SECRETARY BAKER AND GENERAL PERSHING

In all the exploits and achievements of Negro soldiers in the World War, and the difficulties that they encountered in their display of loyalty, it is not to be forgotten that there were true friends who were interested in them and who believed that each one should be given a man’s chance. One explanation of how it was that they were able to “carry on” even under the most adverse conditions was that they believed that the men guiding the destinies of the American arms were fair, broad-minded men who would not countenance petty things. Wherever Negro soldiers were visited they always seemed to feel that Secretary Baker and General Pershing wanted them to have a square deal, and that if these officials really knew of unsatisfactory conditions they would endeavor to correct them immediately. Secretary Baker on numerous occasions showed that he was actuated by a genuine belief in democracy. This led him to examine into the conditions under which Negro soldiers worked, trained, and fought, and also to consider their possibilities of rendering the country the greatest possible service. When objections were made to sending Negro soldiers to certain camps for fear of trouble because of the Houston riot which occurred in 1917 just as plans were being formulated to call thousands of Negroes in the first draft, and when on other occasions pressure was strong, he never ceased to feel that avenues open to other soldiers should be open in like manner to Negroes. Against strong and determined opposition he saw that training as officers was given, and when the future of the first training camp was uncertain, it was Secretary Baker who assured the men that he was depending on them and expected them to reach the standards set by men in other camps. While, as he said, he was not trying to solve the race problem, he did put forth great effort to eliminate those things which tended to break down morale; and it is only necessary to recall such a camp as Hill at Newport News, Virginia, in the winter of 1917-18 to realize how War Department pressure was exerted to remedy bad conditions.

Some of the outstanding features of Secretary Baker’s policy with reference to Negro soldiers may be summarized as follows, and the statements given below embody his plans as stated before justice was sometimes thwarted:

1. That Negro soldiers should be organized and trained on the same basis as all other soldiers.

2. That Negro men should be given the opportunity to train as officers, and that those who met the qualifications should be appointed for service just as others who qualified.

3. That a Negro man should be appointed as one of the assistants to the Secretary.

4. That Negro men should receive every possible aid in making a thoroughgoing study of conditions in both American and French camps.

5. That wherever injustice came to the attention of the Secretary immediate attention should be given to the matter and effort made to correct it.

General Pershing’s service with the Negro units in the regular army and his recommendation of Major Charles Young of the Tenth Cavalry to the Adjutant General of the Army from Headquarters Punitive Expedition U. S. Army, Colonia Dublan, Mexico, August 21, 1916, along with other officers “who had shown very high efficiency throughout the campaign,” and his tributes to the soldierly qualities of Negroes on several occasions, gave Negroes in America the idea that he stood for a square deal and would give honor to whom honor was due. When agitation arose over the use of Negro soldiers in the war, General Pershing let it be known that he desired Negro troops in France. When one of the Allies made strong objections to the attachment of any battalions of Negro infantry for training with their forces, and General Pershing was asked for his views by the War Department, he said: “In event Department still desires early to despatch 92nd Division, I adhere to former recommendations that Division be included among those to be employed temporarily with ——. I have informed —— —— that these soldiers are American citizens and that I can not discriminate against them in event War Department desires to send them to France.”

When stories were circulated among Negro people to the effect that Negroes were being wrongly treated, and subjected to most dangerous positions to save white troops, and shot by Germans when captured or left to die if wounded, General Pershing saw that these were repudiated; and he further said that “the only regret expressed by colored troops is that they are not given more dangerous work to do. I can not commend too highly the spirit shown among the colored combat troops who exhibit fine capacity for quick training and eagerness for the most dangerous work.” When he visited any section of territory occupied by Americans, he always showed an interest in the Negro soldiers; they were impressed and encouraged by his inquiry into the conditions under which they labored; and his understanding of the hard life of the stevedores, and his appreciation of their efforts, did much to make their work less burdensome. The men also felt that in the case of court martials, if verdicts were reviewed by General Pershing, as was done in some important cases, absolute justice would be meted out.

When in the midst of the charges and counter-charges relative to the fitness of Negro officers to lead men General Pershing was questioned about a few Negro officers who were declared inefficient by a board, he assured his hearers that because a few officers had been declared unfit, this was by no means to be construed as an indication of lack of capacity on the part of the race, because at that time more than 6000 white officers had been returned to the states for unfitness to lead men and certainly no one considered the white race a failure because of that fact. Finally we have seen how the General reviewed the 92nd Division just before it departed for America, commending the officers and men for their splendid record overseas. He assured them of his confidence by saying that he had planned to place them before the great fortress of Metz; and his words did much to soften the bitterness of feeling and let both officers and men return to their homeland feeling that after all the commander and chief of the American Expeditionary Forces had appreciated their part in the great struggle. No one can tell what greater things might not have been accomplished by Negro soldiers during the war if the spirit of Secretary Baker and General Pershing had followed them throughout the service.

CHAPTER IX
THE NINETY-THIRD DIVISION

The organization of the 93rd Division was begun at Camp Stuart, Newport News, Va., in December, 1917, with the few remaining National Guard units of Negro men that had survived since the Spanish-American War. These units were battalions from Ohio and Washington, and companies from Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, and Tennessee which later composed the 372nd Infantry Regiment. This Division, which was never assembled or fully organized, consisted on paper of the 369th, 370th, 371st, and 372nd Infantry Regiments. The general who was to command it was ordered to Camp Stuart in December, 1917, but in the latter part of this month the 369th landed in France and was brigaded with the French, while the other three regiments were still training in America. These three arrived in France in April, 1918, when they too were brigaded with the French, with whom they served throughout their stay overseas. After the cessation of hostilities on November 11, 1918, the four regiments were reassigned to the American Army for return to the United States and demobilization. Their record is one of the noblest in all the history of American arms. Each regiment was decorated as a whole or in part with the French Croix de Guerre with palm. The history of the 93rd Division accordingly embraces the activities of the four regiments that composed it, and these will be considered in order.